Sony’s Environmental Plan

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Besides the four perspectives there are six product life cycle stages, all products have an environmental impact throughout their life cycle, from the moment resources are exploited through production, logistics, use, and final disposal. To fulfill our responsibility at all times, Sony divides product life cycles into six stages, each with the specific goal of achieving a zero environmental footprint by 2050.

- The first stage being that of product service planning and design which Sony has used their creativity and innovation to enhance product environmental performance. For a lighter environmental footprint, they capitalize on unique opportunities not only in electronics but also in other business fields and entertainment.

- Second is Operations which is important to reduce environmental footprint in absolute terms in order to reduce the impact Sony imposes on the planet. Globally unified targets in absolute greenhouse gas emissions, amount of waste generated, and other criteria help Sony minimize what will ultimately help Sony eliminate their environmental footprint at all plants and offices. This shared commitment is extended to their partners in design, supply, and production, who are engaged to save energy and help to reduce the overall environmental impact.

- Third Sony needs to focus on raw material and component procurement by reducing environmental impact throughout product life cycles must include procurement of raw materials and components. Sony’s suppliers have helped them manage their chemical substances; these partnerships are now extending their saving towards energy and water. Together, they are working to make zero environmental impact a reality.

- The next area for improvement is their logistics area, shipping parts and products are also energy-consuming. Sony’s goal is to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions related to product transport. Sony has introduced smaller packaging materials, improved loading efficiency, and switched to environmentally superior modes of transportation, such as rail or boat.

- Sony encourages their responsible manufacturers to consider what happens to their products after use. Designing for recycle is only the start of their post-consumer responsibility, which extends to the local recycling programs they have established to encourage take-back and recycling of end-of-life products.

- The last part of the six life cycles is Sony's creativity and innovation which delight and entertain many. They dedicate the same energy into their environmental commitments. As they develop environmentally conscious technologies, they will also pioneer business models that reduce their environmental footprint.

As you can see Sony’s has been working on being socially responsible since 1976, with a concentrated effort all the way through 2050. Sony’s efforts have been successful to date. In doing this project it has made me realize I as a single individual need to make more efforts to reduce my footprint in this world as well.

References

Retrieved from

Work Cites:

www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr/eco/RoadToZero

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/csr_report/environment/management/gm2015/index.html

http://www.sony-asia.com/corporate/resources/en_AP/pdf/Japan(04June15)-SonyEstablishesGreenManagement2020.pdf